With the advent of downloading and the subsequent decline of album sales, the music industry is no longer able to package and sell the way it previously had. Sound Scan has a number of goals in relation to the future of the music industry and it's customers:
- To provide a useful user experience that uses new technology to provide a service not yet available
- To help prevent previously irresponsible practices that lead the music industry to disappoint so many customers and make a maximum profit. Previously a release would have a few great songs and then forced the artist to produce more work to fill out an album that could be charged more for. Sound Scan aims to give users a chance to hear more than just the single and to help them purchase music they really like. This may be one way to reinvigorate the music industry by providing successful and rewarding purchases for customers thus reminding to purchase music rather than illegally download.
- To help to close the gap between online resources and physical products through turning CDs and records into tangible interfaces to access digital media from.
- To provide a new experience for old CDs and Records. These products are not recyclable and can cause health problems. Providing a new experience will help them maintain their worth.
The purpose of Sound Scan is to make use of existing technology in conjunction with mobile interfaces in order to connect digital content with physical products. Through connecting physical products such as CDs and Records to their digital form online, as well as other resources relating to them, the products instantly gain more worth and the user may not purchase something they really don't want. Problems with the music industry churning out substandard products has contributed to the wave of people downloading music illegally. A product like Sound Scan may help them to have more positive purchases and ease off of stealing music online.
Target Markets
The primary audience the Sound Scan application is targeting is that of music lovers. This is a large demographic of people not restricted by age. People as young as 14 may work and from that age onwards may purchase music constantly for the rest of their life. There are so many genres and sub-genres of music that it would be worthwhile to not only advertise to people who are technology savvy. The future is a digital one and thus everyone will need to be literate in the language of hand held devices. People who are passionate about music often wander around a record store for hours just perusing the titles. Often there is a gamble involved that may result in a feeling of regret or even the return of the item. This product would provide those people with a new and useful experience that may even promote them to purchase more music than ever. This product may also help to expand the demographic as people will have the safety of all of the most reputable online music resources as well as access to the product in it's digital form. Aside from the buying process, Sound Scan can provide a whole new experience for the music lovers entire record collection as they might sit down, put on an album they love, scan the barcode and read interviews or even reviews from the time it was released and learn new about their favourite artists.
The secondary audience may be people who buy music occasionally and might often buy CD's as gifts. Often people have a fair idea of the sort of music someone likes but not the names of the artists. This product can make that selection even easier.